Neural Mechanism for Inferring a Speaker's Mind from Speech

DOI 1 Citations 33 References
  • Homma Midori
    Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima
  • Imaizumi Satoshi
    Graduate School of Comprehensive Scientific Research, Prefectural University of Hiroshima
  • Ozawa Yoshiaki
    Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Prefectural University of Hiroshima
  • Maruishi Masaharu
    Hiroshima Higher Brain Function Center
  • Muranaka Hiroyuki
    Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hiroshima Prefectural Rehabilitation Center

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  • 音声から話者の気持ちを理解する脳機構

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Abstract

Using linguistically positive and negative phrases that were either pleasantly or unpleasantly uttered by a woman, we examined the role and gender differences of the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) in speech communication through fMRI analyses. The subjects were 12 male and 12 female right-handed healthy adults. They judged either the speaker's mind (mind task) or the linguistic meaning (language task) of her utterances. The left dMPFC was activated in both tasks. The male subjects showed significantly stronger activation than the female subjects in the right dMPFC only in the mind task. The male subjects needed longer reaction time than the female subjects in both tasks. Concerning the consistency rate between the subject's judgment and the emotional valence of the stimuli, a significant gender effect was observed only in the mind task, with a higher consistency rate indicated in the female subjects as compared to the male subjects.These results suggest that the dMPFC plays an important role in inferring a speaker's mind from speech, and that the gender difference in the activity patterns reflects different inference processes between male and female subjects.

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